


Blackouts Aren't Scary!

by CuteCat



Series: Fun-Filled Spooky Month [2]
Category: Friday Night Funkin' (Video Game), Spooky Month (Short Films - Sr Pelo)
Genre: Gen, Skid's mom appears and has her name mentioned once, brief Kevin appearance, hand-holding for safety reasons, no FNF characters aside from the spooky kids, those thieves from The Stars appear too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29824884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuteCat/pseuds/CuteCat
Summary: Skid and Pump are out at night when a blackout suddenly strikes the city! To make matters worse, thick clouds are blocking out any light from the stars or moon.How are they supposed to get home when they can't see a thing?
Relationships: Pump & Skid (Friday Night Funkin')
Series: Fun-Filled Spooky Month [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2208207
Comments: 21
Kudos: 151





	Blackouts Aren't Scary!

“It’s not Halloween yet,” Kevin the clerk said flatly.

“Pleaaase?” Skid and Pump pleaded together, leaning up against the candy store’s counter.

“I already did you a favor last time, you have to pay for the candy.”

“Awww.” Well, complaining wouldn’t get them any candy, so the two costumed children huddled together to pool their resources. They didn’t have enough for two candy bars, so they added some other stuff to make up the difference; placing a small array of coins, two buttons, and a cool rock Skid had found on the counter.

They both stared up hopefully as Kevin counted the coins, even as he frowned. He opened his mouth to speak, met the kids’ expectant gazes, and glanced back down at the attempted payment. Finally he sighed in resignation and held out two candy bars. “Fine. But you still owe me, alright?”

“Thank you Kevin!” Skid and Pump chimed as one as they took the treats and headed out.

“Let’s go look at the sky,” Pump suggested as they left the candy store. Skid nodded in agreement -- it was a very dreary evening, with thick storm clouds blotting out the stars and the moon alike. Normally that kind of weather was something people avoided, fearing the downpour that was soon to come, but the kids found it ominous and spooky and thus considered it the best kind of weather.

Besides, Skid’s mom made him bring a foldable umbrella(it had a bone pattern!), so if it did start raining they were prepared.

Since there were a lot of lights and lit buildings around the city, the two ended up going to the park for their sky-watching adventure, hopping onto a bench side by side. The park was only lit with some streetlights scattered here and there, making it way easier to see the sky clearly, and having something to sit on was a good bonus!

The only downside was that they couldn’t see the stars at all. The Eyes would be disappointed.

As they sat there, admiring the eerie atmosphere and eating their candy bars, everything suddenly went pitch-black. Skid blinked and looked around, quickly determining that all the lamp posts around them had shut off. They did that sometimes, even if it usually wasn’t all at once, so he waited a few seconds for them to turn back on.

They didn’t, so he waited a few seconds more. … And then a few more, for good measure. “Um…”

“... I don’t think they’re turning back on,” Pump said. 

“Maybe the park had a blackout,” Skid suggested. Looking back up at the sky, it was like the stars and moon had blacked out too - the cloud layer was so thick no light was coming through at all.

Finishing his candy, Skid felt about the bench for his foldable umbrella and then hopped down, hearing the thud of Pump doing the same. It was strange - even when he looked right at his friend he couldn’t see him at all, instead hearing his steps come closer and feeling his glove brush against Skid’s wrist. As he found his friend, Pump grabbed Skid’s hand and held it tight.

What should they do? The blackout probably wasn’t ending anytime soon, so just waiting wouldn’t do any good. Skid glanced around for a solution, which was kind of pointless since he couldn’t see anything, and then he had a thought: If it was so dark that he and Pump couldn’t see each other at all, then they could easily hide just by taking a few steps! “Let’s play hide-and-seek!”

He tried to pull free to begin the game, but to his surprise Pump’s grip on his hand tightened. “No!”

Skid stared in the direction of his friend. Pump had never said  _ no _ before. Neither of them had, they were too in sync to dislike each others’ suggestions, so now that it had happened Skid wasn’t sure how to react.

“It’s just darkness,” he finally said in an attempt to be reassuring. Could Pump really be scared of the dark? It was such a cornerstone of all things spooky, that was hard to imagine.

“But what if we can’t find each other?” Pump complained. Skid gave it some thought; true, if he took a few steps away and then Pump went in another direction, they might not find each other again easily… And the idea of being all alone, not able to go home because he didn’t know if Pump would find  _ his _ way home, wasn’t fun at all.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Pump was right, separating was a bad idea. Skid squeezed his friend’s hand a bit, frowning, but after a few moments thought of something much better. “I know, let’s go to my house! Then mom can play hide-and-seek too, and we wouldn’t lose each other!”

“Okay!” Pump replied, already sounding happier. Their spirits lifted, the two children began to walk, searching for the bright lights of the city around the park.

As the ground shifted from grass and dirt to flat stone and asphalt, however, they had yet to find even a speck of light.

“Wooow… The whole city’s blacked out,” Pump said in awe. Their eyes were getting used to the darkness, but even then Skid could only barely make out Pump from his surroundings. No matter how much he looked around, all he could tell about their location was that they weren’t among the trees anymore. There weren’t any sounds of people around either, probably due to the aforementioned avoiding-spooky-weather thing. It made everything feel empty and abandoned, as if Skid and Pump were the only two people in the whole world!

“Come on!” Skid declared, giving Pump’s hand a light tug as he started to walk. He’d lived here his whole life, so even if he couldn’t  _ see _ where they were, he knew the city layout like the back of his hand. If they had left the park in the direction he thought they did, then he knew exactly which way to go to get to his house.

They just had to follow the sidewalk, and then turn right when the road did, and then walk a bit longer and make a few more turns before finally crossing the road. It was easy! Of course, Skid had never counted how long it took to get to the turns before, but he was good at guessing so that shouldn’t be a problem.

At least, this was what he thought up until he stepped out into nothingness.

As he started to fall forward Pump yanked him back with a yelp, sending him stumbling back onto the sidewalk with such force that both children fell onto their butts. Wide-eyed, Skid looked back at his friend and was met with two faintly glowing, pale-blue dots.

Oh, Pump was doing the blue-eye thing again. Skid really wasn’t sure when he started doing that, and it had never seemed necessary to ask. It certainly made him easier to see right now though.

Scooting forward a little and patting at the ground in front of him with the umbrella (since, well, he had no free hands), Skid confirmed that the sidewalk just sort of ended there. Another pat confirmed that they had reached the turn, and that Skid had nearly stepped into the road. The thought made him pale; walking into the road was  _ never ever _ good.

“Maybe we should wait here,” Pump suggested, evidently having realized what happened.

“But what if it doesn’t turn light until morning?” asked Skid - sometimes when he was watching the news with his mom, they mentioned blackouts that didn’t get better for  _ days _ . And they couldn’t wait that long, his mom would worry!

“But it’s dangerous!”

That was true, too. Skid let out an unhappy noise. What could they do? It’d be easier if they had a flashlight, but all they had was the umbrella and that didn’t even light up. He wanted to keep going, but Pump didn’t, and there was no way he’d leave his best friend’s side. This was all too big a decision to place on two kids! “What if we find someone and ask for help?”

There was a moment of silence, Pump’s hesitation palpable as he responded. “What if it’s a stranger?”

Skid was about to protest that of course they wouldn’t ask a  _ stranger _ , but cut himself off with a gasp. How could they tell who they were asking when it was so dark they couldn’t see anything? What if they asked someone for help, but it turned out to be that scary stranger from the haunted house? “We can’t do that!”

… Which brought them right back to square one. This time it was Pump’s turn to suggest something. “I know, let’s go to the flashlight store!”

“Where’s that?” Skid asked.

“It’s at the mall.”

Ah, of course. The mall. … Which was nowhere close to their current position, and thus even less available than Skid’s house. “I don’t think we can get there.”

The two slumped, mulling over their circumstances. What to do? Would they really have to risk talking to a stranger in order to get home?

As he wracked his brain for a solution, Skid couldn’t help but notice voices. They were distant and quiet, but they were the only sounds around that weren’t the wind or two costumed children. Looking for the source of the sound, Skid gasped and pointed. “Pump, look!”

Two people were walking through the grass, faintly illuminated by a single flashlight. They were dressed up as robbers with woolen masks over their head, and carried sacks full of what was probably candy. Better yet, Skid had seen them before, so they weren’t strangers! This was exactly what they needed!

“Who are they?” Pump asked as the two got to their feet.

“They’re friends!” Skid explained. “I found them trick-or-treating in my house once!”

The look on Pump’s face indicated some questions about that particular explanation, but he quickly dropped it as they hurried up behind the two robbers, rustling the grass as they went.

“What was that?” the shorter robber asked.

“What?” asked the other.

“I thought I heard-- GYAH!” The flashlight was pointed into the two children’s faces, and the shorter robber almost backed into his friend.

“Hi!” Skid called with a wave. “Were you watching the spooky weather too?”

“Are we?” the short robber asked, glancing to his friend for confirmation. “I mean, yeah, we are!”

“Yeah yeah,” the tall robber agreed unenthusiastically. “Real spooky weather. Run along now.”

Without waiting for a response he started to walk away with his friend in tow. Skid and Pump followed.

“Uh, they’re following us,” the shorter robber said in a stage whisper.

“Are you serious? We can’t have kids tailing us around,” complained the tall robber, stopping and shining his flashlight back at the two kids. “I said run along. Go home.”

“We can’t,” Skid replied at once.

“Yeah, not without a flashlight,” Pump chimed in. “Can we have yours?”

“What? No,” protested the tall robber. “We need this.”

“Pleaaaase?” both children pleaded as one.

“Aw, come on,” the short robber joined in. “We can’t leave them like this.”

“Yes we… Ugh, fine, fine.” The tall robber sighed loudly, outmatched 3-to-1. “We’ll escort you back to your street, but that’s it. Come on.”

“Thank you!” chimed the kids, watching as the robbers hid their candy bags in the grass. Why this was necessary Skid didn’t know, but the bags did look heavy so maybe they just didn’t want to carry them back and forth too much. Then they were off -- the robbers walked in front, referring back to Skid and Pump for directions whenever they reached a turn. With their help telling where to go was much easier, and soon enough the group were on the right street.

“Which way now?” the tall robber asked, turning to look at the two.

“That way!” Skid called, pointing straight ahead. Pump nodded in agreement. “My house is along here.”

“Great. Well, you can take the rest of the trip yourselves.” Promptly the tall robber turned around, walking past the two kids.

“Shouldn’t we walk them to the door?” the short robber asked as he followed.

“Idiot!” hissed the tall robber, his voice dropping to a whisper. Since there were no other sounds around it was still perfectly audible, but the effort was there. “If their mom recognizes us, we’re dead meat!”

“Oh right.”

“Mum wouldn’t mind,” Skid reassured, causing both men to wince. “She likes visitors!”

“Oh, yeah well, we uh,” started the tall robber, spinning around to watch the two kids as he backed away. “You see, we gotta, uh…”

“Yeah we kinda- The thing is- well…”

It was a bit hard to tell exactly what the two were trying to say, but thankfully Pump was clever and figured it out in seconds. “Oh, I get it. You hafta go get your candy bags!”

“Yeah! Exactly!” the robbers agreed instantly, clumsily talking over each other. “Our candy bags! We gotta- yeah yeah we gotta fetch those.”

“Okay!” Skid called as the two began to leave, waving. “Bye! Thank you for helping!”

He paused in his wave as he felt a water drop hit his head. Oh - it was starting to rain. Skid quickly unfolded and opened his umbrella, leaning in close to Pump to shield his friend, and moments later it was like the sky had dropped a whole bucket of water on them.

The robbers stopped in their tracks, their voices overpowered by the rain (which was just as well since the tall one uttered some rather not-child-friendly words). Skid looked over to Pump with a smile. “Let’s go home.”

It’d be a little hard to walk if they were huddled together too close, but the umbrella wasn’t very big and he didn’t want to risk either of them getting soaked the way the grown-ups had. Pump, having the same thought and a solution in mind, turned his back to Skid and helped his friend climb onto him. With Skid riding piggy-back the umbrella easily covered them both, and the two children began to move.

The only problem now was telling which house was which. Skid looked around all he could, but without the robbers’ flashlight everything was back to being black. Combined with the rain, they could walk right into a wall without seeing it! Skid trusted Pump not to do that, of course, but it still posed a problem. He peered through the downpour, trying to make out anything around them, until he noticed a pair of small lights in the darkness. They were dull and low to the ground, but they stood out clearly.

“Pump, look!” Skid called, pointing at the lights. Pump couldn’t actually see the motion, but noticed the lights just by looking around and headed toward them. As he got closer he sped up, excitement beginning to bubble up within both children as they got close enough to make out the details - these weren’t just any lights.

They were  _ Spooky Month _ lights. Plastic, battery-powered lanterns like the ones you’d find at a toy store, one shaped like a pumpkin and the other resembling a skull. The sign couldn’t be clearer; this was Skid’s house! They made it!

The door swung open before they even reached the doorknob, revealing Skid’s mom with a raincoat, a big flashlight and a worried face that melted away the moment she saw the duo.

“Hi mum!” Skid called and waved. Pump followed suit with a “Hi Ms. Lila!”.

“Kids! There you are!” Skid’s mom gasped, sweeping the duo inside in an instant. Before Skid knew what had happened the umbrella had been removed from his grip and he had been removed from Pump’s, his mom hugging both children close. “And you’re both dry?”

“Yeah, thanks to the umbrella!” chimed Skid as his mom let go. Now they could finally play hide-and-seek!

… But they had been trying to find his house for so long, he kinda didn’t want to search for stuff any more. Pump probably felt the same way.

“Well, I’m glad you’re both safe,” his mom smiled. “Tell you what, why doesn’t Pump stay here tonight? We certainly can’t take him home in this rain.”

Skid and Pump gasped as one, turning to each other in excitement. “Spooky sleepover!!”

Of course it wasn’t that unusual for Pump to stay over, either because the two fell asleep mid-play or because they deemed it too late to go home alone, but usually cool spooky rainstorms and blackouts weren’t involved! Skid’s mom stepped outside for a moment to bring in the Spooky Lanterns, giving the kids one each (they instantly swapped so Skid got the pumpkin lantern and Pump got the skeleton one), and then the trio sat in the living room. They shared spooky stories and played together, and when the rain grew into a thunderstorm, Skid’s mom taught them how to gauge how far away lightning had struck.

It was only when his mom stood up, carrying an already sleeping Pump, that Skid noticed how tired he was. It was too dark to see any clocks, but it had to be past midnight and the lights weren’t back yet. Still carrying up his Spooky Pumpkin Lantern, Skid followed his mom up to his room, where she tucked both children into his bed.

“Good night, you two,” she said, gently pulling the lantern out of Skid’s hands and petting his head.

“Good night mum,” Skid murmured sleepily, watching as his mom quietly stepped out of the room. He heard the tiny ‘click’ of a plastic lantern turning off, and then he was out like a light.

If all blackouts were like this, he hoped they’d get another soon.

At least if they brought a flashlight next time.


End file.
